


Would You Like to be My Sunshine

by sundaycandy



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/F, but that's really not what the story's about, dont read this, especially in the beginning, if that, is not your cup of tea, like there'll be a few references, like they confirm they're getting divorced in the first chapter, to calzona
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9844283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sundaycandy/pseuds/sundaycandy
Summary: Arizona thinks Leah might just have what she's been looking for.





	1. Quiet Turns to Loud

**Author's Note:**

> Warning you ahead of time, this is not and is never going to be a Calzona piece, as much as I did like them together. If you don't like it you're under no obligation to read it, but if you do, then thanks! Also, I know it's not perfect. I tried to revise it, but if you catch any spelling/grammar mistakes I don't mind being corrected.

Leah Murphy was gorgeous, a truth Arizona simply could not deny. And now, she had her head on Arizona’s shoulder and she was waiting for the HIV results of a man who’d bitten her.

Sometimes, Arizona couldn’t believe where her life had taken her.

Leah’s shoulders shook, and that was when Arizona realized she was a silent crier. It broke her heart a little bit, so she wrapped her other arm around the girl and let her nuzzle into her neck. She brought one hand up and slowly stroked her hair.

It was strange. She hadn’t held anyone like this since Callie. This holding was a whole other kind of intimacy. In a way, it was nice.

“Thank you,” Leah said with a cracking voice.

“Shh, shh, it’s no problem at all, baby.” She didn’t say it would all be okay. She knew it might not be. But she continued murmuring soft sounds of comfort until Leah settled into stillness against Arizona’s chest.

After a while, Leah looked up at her with eyes that were baby blue and bloodshot. And searching. “Arizona …”

Arizona bit her lip. She knew what Leah was looking for. She thought it through as much as she could in the few moments she had. All she knew was that Callie and her had been over for a long time. Since before Lauren. If the plane crash had never happened, she knew she would have spent the rest of her life with her. But it did, and they couldn’t go back, so they could only go forward.

So she made a decision. “Listen, Leah, no matter what happens, I’m here, okay?”

“B-but w-what about -”

“Sh, don’t worry right now.” She simply hugged Leah tighter, and they waited there for what feels like (because it probably was) hours. A few of the other residents came in and out, some of them keep their heads down, others aren’t afraid to openly stare. But Arizona figured this was worth it, and that hiding from the residents like high schoolers would probably only make Leah feel worse right now. So she cut off the part of her that might care what conclusions anybody jumps to.

After all, it can never be as bad as what happened when her and Lauren walked out of that on-call room.

The tests came back negative, and Leah’s relief was palpable.

Later that night, Arizona found herself sitting on Leah’s couch, while Leah layed her head on her lap. Some live-action Disney film from the 90s was on. Apparently, it had been Leah’s favorite as a kid, and had a way of making her feel better. The resident’s eyes were glued to the screen, but Arizona was lost in thought as she ran her fingers through Leah’s hair. She found herself thinking about how pretty Leah was, how thoughtful and full of love the girl had shown herself to be. She was certainly more than Arizona had originally thought.

It was then that Arizona’s phone silently lit up, alerting her of one new text message from Callie. With one hand still playing with Leah’s locks, she opened her phone.

"it’s bad enough you slept with her. are you dating Leah Murphy now, because I feel like that’s the kind of thing you should tell me."

She had a point. It would at least be common courtesy to tell her wife about her … whatever Leah was.

"Not sure. This isn’t the kind of conversation we should have over text, or even the phone. Meet me for lunch tomorrow?"

All she received in response was an “Alright”. She probably deserved much worse. The fact that Callie still held any measure of respect for Arizona at all after what she had done was something she appreciated a lot. In the end, though, she knew this wasn’t something they could salvage. As she looked down at Leah, though, whose hands were toying with a loose thread from her sleep shirt, she thought maybe things would be okay.

After a while, they relocated into Leah’s bed, and drifted off to sleep curled into one another. It was the best Arizona slept in a long time.

When she woke up, Leah was cooking, a delightful surprise and a talent Arizona didn’t know the younger girl possessed. There was also what sounded like some sort of new age rap music playing from Leah’s phone as she breakdanced her way through the kitchen.

Since Leah’s whole apartment was pretty much an open floor, she could see her while still laying in bed. In a strange way, it was kind of cute, watching Leah sing the line “Hey lil mama would you like to be my sunshine” as she whisked eggs. Another endearing thing. In fact, the younger girl was so ensconced in the task at hand that she didn’t notice Arizona was awake until she had her arms wrapped around her.

“Good morning! I have rounds at nine but it’s only seven so I’m making breakfast.”

“Mhm. It looks good. I’m off today, actually, which is good because I’ve got some things to take care of. I’m having lunch with Callie at the hospital later on her break and then I’m going to look into getting a house or something of my own.”

She watched as the implications of that clicked in Leah’s head.

“Okay. That’s good. I’m gonna be on call all night but just call if you need anything.”

To Leah’s credit, and grace, she didn’t look even vaguely smug at the implication that Arizona’s divorce would be getting finalized soon. She merely finished making breakfast and lowered the music a little as she set the food out on her small kitchen table.

As Callie sat down across from her in the cold cafeteria chairs, Arizona felt somber.

“Calliope, this isn’t going to work. I don’t think we’re ever gonna be able to make this one work.”

Callie just looks at her for a moment. She would be well within her rights to bring up the cheating, to throw it in Arizona’s face. To remind her that a lot of the damage done was her choice. To remind her that Callie was the one who was there for her after the crash, after she lost her leg, the one who helped her pull it back together when it felt like the world was ending. And that she got discarded for it.

But she doesn’t. Maybe because she realizes that Arizona already knows, or maybe just because she doesn’t care enough to fight anymore.

“I know.” Callie takes a deep breath. “I would rather you and I be happy apart, than miserable trying to make it work together. I don’t hate you. I thought I did, but I don’t. I just want to be happy, and even now, I just want that for you too. But I don’t think we can get there together. Look, we can figure out something with Sofia with our schedules soon, but for now you wanna just say three and four days?”

Arizona nods. “Yeah, that’ll work for now, I’ll look at my work schedule and we’ll figure this out. And Callie?”

Callie looks at her, stopping as she began to stand up.

“I’m sorry. For everything.”

Callie doesn’t respond for a second, and then, “I know.” And then, just as she’s a few feet away, she turns around again. “Leah Murphy?”

Arizona just laughs. “She’s not as bad as you think.” Callie smiles humorously, and then walks away.

Arizona is left with a serene sense of closure as she heads out to meet the realtor.

By the end of the day, she’s found a nice little house a few blocks away from the hospital. Three bedrooms, two bath. She texted Leah as she walked back up to the hotel room. “Found a house, moving soon. Everything’s fine with Callie.”

The response came almost immediately. “That’s great!!”

Back at work the next day, she found herself next to Derek Shepherd on her lunch break, who was holding a very groggy Zola. “Say hi to Arizona,” he cooed to the baby, before focusing on the blonde.

“Listen, I don’t want to get involved in your business, but I consider you and I friends, and I also consider Callie and I friends, and I just felt like it was important.

“Okay …” Arizona responded, feeling like she might have some idea where this was going.

“Is Leah Murphy your Meredith Grey?”

Well, she wasn’t expecting it quite in those words, but alright.

“Maybe. I think she could be,” Arizona said, rolling thoughts of the resident around inside her head.

Derek smiled knowingly. “If she is, then I’m very happy for you. Divorce is hard. I can only imagine how much harder it is with a child involved. But there are times when it’s the only way forward.”

Arizona smiled, in a weird way grateful for his honesty. It was hard to find somebody who wasn’t mad at her these days. People take sides in things like this, and most people had taken Callie’s. She knew she probably deserved that, but still.

A few weeks later, she had completely moved into the new house. Sofia was with Callie, and Leah was over. They were laying in what had become a standard for them, Leah’s head on Arizona’s lap. Some comedy sketch show was playing in the background, but this time they were talking.

“Arizona, what are we doing? Like, is this serious for you?” Leah asked gently as Arizona ran her fingers through her hair.

“It is. Actually, if you’re up for it, I wouldn’t mind calling you my girlfriend."

Leah smiled, and it was so pretty it ruined Arizona.

"Okay,” she said softly, “It’s just that Steph and Jo won’t leave me alone about it. They actually don’t know how consistently we see each other, they just keep badgering me about that day in the residents’ lounge . . .”

Arizona laughed, and then an idea sparkled behind her eyes. “Don’t tell them just yet. Trust me.”

A week later, they were all at Joe’s after an earthquake had landed them with a series of surgeries that had seemed neverending. Arizona, Meredith, Derek, Alex, and Cristina. Leah was across the room with some of the other residents in her year. 

Alex nudged her. “So, uh, what’s the deal with you and Murphy? Jo’s always wondering about it, you know how people talk.”

Derek looked at her with amusement on his face, but says nothing. She could tell by the inquisitive expressions on Meredith’s and Cristina’s faces that he hadn’t shared their prior conversation. 

She smirked and shrugged before standing up. Leah looked over, and caught her eye. Alex, Cristina, and Meredith looked at her with confusion but she ignored them. She walked across the room to where Leah, Steph, Jo, and Shane were sitting around a table. Leah looked partially confused but partially like she had a clue what was about to happen. 

Arizona swiftly took Leah’s face with both of her hands and before anybody knew what was happening, they were kissing. 

“Well, I guess that answers that,” she heard Jo say quietly. 

Arizona pulled back, then, and leaned in to mutter “let’s go home,” in the younger girl’s ear. Leah gulped before nodding.

She looked back to where Alex and the others were sitting. Alex nodded and subtly raised his glass to her as Jo went over to speak with him. Derek was laughing. Meredith and Cristina were looking at each other and smirking. 

If they wanted to talk, let them.


	2. Difficult Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo, so here's chapter two. forewarning: I have a really awful habit of starting a new story, writing a crap ton of it in the first few days, and then getting busy/losing inspiration. I'm gonna try to finish this before that happens which means updates are going to have no type of consistency or schedule, which is why I'm uploading multiple chapters in one day right now. anyways, I know I'm not the best writer in the world but if you have a question, comment, or concern I'd love to hear it. Even if you just wanna tell me what you liked about the chapter or whatnot. If you have constructive criticism I'm open to that too so long as you're polite about it. this one's also kind of short which isn't generally my style but it had to be.

When Derek Shepherd died, it seemed that the entire world had shifted on its axis. Arizona spent the weeks after alternating between looking after Meredith and Amelia with Maggie. In truth, it was hard to wrap her head around the concept. Derek had always seemed like he’d live forever. 

“Are you okay?” Leah asked one night. They were at Arizona’s place, and she’d spent the day helping the kids make crafts with Amelia. She had just put Sofia to bed. “I mean, I know you and Dr. Shepherd were friends.”

Arizona smiled in a wistful way. “You can’t know Derek Shepherd and not be friends with him. It’s tough,” a tear dripped out of her eyelid, but she tried to keep it at bay. She had been very careful to contain the grief she felt around Meredith and Amelia, because she didn’t think it would help. And she knew it was so much worse for them than it was for her. 

But she was still grieving. 

“Mhm, I know,” Leah said softly as she began rubbing Arizona’s shoulder. Arizona let herself relax into it. 

She bit her lip. “God, it just seemed like he could live through anything, you know? He survived a gunshot to the chest. He survived a plane crash. And with Mark, and Lexie, and now him?”

She didn’t say anything else for a moment or two. 

“They all deserved to live.”

Leah opened her arms then, and Arizona fell back against her chest. 

“Death isn’t easy,” Leah said after a while. “Not ever, but especially when it’s someone good. You and I know that better than anybody, we work in a hospital. It’s hard. But things are gonna be okay.”

Arizona nodded as Leah gently kissed her on the top of the head. 

-

A year or two passed. Callie met a new girl named Penny, whom she and Leah met at a dinner party at Meredith’s. She seemed nice enough to Arizona; she was really just glad Callie seemed so happy. The night ended in disaster, however, when Meredith revealed that Penny had been involved in Derek’s death at Dillard Hospital. 

Amelia stood and stormed out of the room after a moderate amount of yelling. Meredith had already run upstairs. Arizona met Callie’s eyes from down the table. She looked stricken. Maggie stood up and grabbed Callie’s shoulder gently. “Listen, I think you guys should probably go. I’m really sorry, I didn’t know –“

Callie raised a hand, stopping her. “Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault. I’m sorry, I should have known, I should’ve thought . . .” Callie took a tearful Penny by the hand and they leave. The rest of the guests were left dumbstruck. 

Arizona leaned in to Leah. “Listen, I’m gonna go upstairs and try to talk to Amelia. Meet you back at the house?”

Leah nodded, understanding, and said her goodbyes before leaving as well. 

She found Amelia Shepherd sobbing, hugging a green frog stuffed animal on her bed. She looked up at her, eyes so sad and so angry she could be a storm. 

Arizona was supposed to be a good man in a storm, so she sat on the edge of the bed and held out her hand. Amelia snatched it like she was clinging to a liferaft. 

“You know,” Arizona began, “my brother died too. Did I ever tell you that?”

Amelia’s sobs slow down, turn quieter. “No.”

“Tim. Timothy Robbins. So I know how you feel, like the whole world is busting apart at the seams. And I don’t blame you. If I met a surgeon and found out she could have saved him, and didn’t because she backed down, because she was scared, well I’d probably react the same way.”

Amelia’s breathing evened out. “I’m so angry, Arizona.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know how to stop.”

“Eventually, you will. Eventually, you kind of have to. But right now, it’s okay to be angry. We can hate her.”

Amelia smiled a watery smile. “Thank you. I’m sorry about your brother.”

Arizona smiled back and shrugs. “I’m sorry about yours.” She pat Amelia’s shoulder and then left. She figured Alex was probably taking care of Meredith, anyway. 

When she got back to the house, Leah was already in pajamas, and sat completely straight on the couch. “Callie stopped over,” she said as soon as Arizona walked in the door. “She wanted to know if we could watch Sofia for the night, so I told her yes because I knew you wouldn’t mind. She’s already in bed.” 

Arizona nodded. “Thank you for handling that.”

“Do you think Dr. Shepherd –Amelia –is gonna be okay?”

“She’ll be alright, yeah.”

“And you? I’m sure this must be bringing up old memories . . . “

Arizona nodded again. “It is, but it’s okay. I’m alright. I just miss him.”

Leah opened her arms and Arizona fell into them. They laid there for a long time in comfortable silence before either spoke again.

“Leah, I’ve been thinking.”

“Hm,” Leah responded playfully. 

“Oh, shut up, I’m a world-class surgeon, I do think sometimes. Anyway, what would you think about moving in with me?”

Leah looked a little bit surprised, but not majorly so. “I think that sounds like a good idea.”

“Good. I don’t care how soon it is. I just want to reduce the time I’m away from you as much as possible. I love you. I’m so in love with you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, and just to clear some things up, because it's probably unclear and for that I apologize: In this, Arizona and DeLuca don't live together, because Arizona and Callie never got back together after the whole Lauren thing and bought that house together, Arizona just got involved with Leah while they were separated and then they ended up getting divorced. Also, this is pretty obvious, but Leah never gets fired from the hospital. That's partially because it doesn't fit my purposes and partially because I think Leah probably got pretty off-track after the emotional state Arizona put her in in canon which resulted in her surgical skills not being quite up to scratch. I'm also leaving out the whole business with Alex punching DeLuca -what I mean by that is I'm not going to reference it, but I'm also going to steer clear of writing anything that directly implies it never happened. If you want to read it as happening in this universe you can, but I didn't really want to deal with that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> number three. this isn't going to be a super long or drawn-out story, but there's a few more plot points I've got planned after this. also, I'm really prone to accidentally switching tenses when writing. This is supposed to be all past-tense so if you catch any present-tense verbs that's a mistake I need to fix and I wouldn't mind being made aware of it.

It was several months later that Eliza Minnick arrived and shook the whole hospital up. Arizona found herself and a few other attendings in a meeting with Dr. Bailey. 

“I’m not opposed to her teaching methods necessarily,” Arizona began, “I just think it would be much better received if she would speak to us about it prior to demanding that we allow a resident complete control over our surgeries.” 

Dr. Bailey nodded. “I hear you, Dr. Robbins, I really do, but she’s not open to suggestions.” 

That was when Jackson chimed in. “I don’t see why she’s being handed authority over specialties that she has no knowledge of higher than those of us that have actually specialized in them.” 

Richard spoke then, in a calm and controlled tone. “You may recall that we have never, at this hospital, held an opposition to allowing residents to perform surgeries.”

“I mean, for Christ’s sake, do you remember how many solo surgeries you had us compete for?” reminded Alex. 

Dr. Bailey sighed. “You all present valid points. I will speak to Dr. Minnick but after that I want this resolved. We will come to a conclusion and that will be the end of it. I don’t wanna hear about this again.”

As Arizona was typing records into the computer a few hours later, Eliza Minnick approached her, looking sleek and intent. 

“I like girls.”

Arizona wasn’t stupid. She knew Minnick had been eyeing her, but for the sake of professionalism she’d tried to ignore it, figuring Minnick would get the hint. 

She hadn’t, apparently, and she went on a short tangent about how sure she was that Arizona did too. 

She tried to assess whether or not the knowledge that Arizona was dating one of the residents would push Minnick into some sort of tirade on professionalism and how it was inappropriate that Arizona date a resident. 

She’d gotten a short lecture on it from Bailey a couple years prior, which had went like: “Dr. Robbins, are you romantically or sexually involved with Leah Murphy?” “Yes, I am.” “You know that is inappropriate.” “Yes, I do.” “Don’t let it interfere with the medicine.” “I would never, Dr. Bailey.”

As fun as it would be to yank Minnick’s chain and watch her jealousy every time she saw Leah and Arizona together, she thought that might not positively impact her career or Leah’s. After all, Minnick was running the residency program now. So she decided she wouldn’t drop names. 

Although, with the way gossip ran through this hospital, it wouldn’t take much for her to find out. 

“I do.” Arizona said abruptly, cutting Minnick off. “I do like girls.”

Minnick grinned, her eyes dancing. Arizona had to keep herself from laughing. “So –“

“Especially my girlfriend,” she finished. 

Minnick’s whole face dropped. “Uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were –who is it?”

Arizona couldn’t help it then, she laughed. “Oh, you should see your face. But no. It doesn’t matter who she is.”

Minnick pursed her lips. “So do you really have a girlfriend, or are you just saying that to mess with me?”

“I do have a girlfriend, but I’m also messing with you.”

That was when Leah walked up, and cleared her throat. “Dr. Robbins, I have the labs for Maya Khan.”

Arizona held out a hand, trying to reduce the brilliant smile she always reserved for the resident. “Thank you, Dr. Murphy.”

Somehow, Minnick didn’t realize. 

“So you really won’t tell me who she is?” Frosty blue eyes met Arizona’s navy blue.

She shrugged. “It’s not really your business, Dr. Minnick, and if you really wanna know, it isn’t that hard to find things out around here.”

Later that night, Arizona found herself at Joe’s, waiting for Leah to meet her. The resident had last-minute things to take care of before she could leave the hospital for the night, so Arizona sat at the bar and talked to Joe and a few people from work.

She was looking forward to a peaceful night. When Callie and Penny had moved to New York, they had decided Sofia would live permanently with Arizona and Leah, because it would be less disruptive to her life. However, she had a four-day weekend from school, so she’d been sent on a plane to New York the night before to spend time with her other mom. Arizona figured she and Leah would have a few drinks and then go home and watch some Netflix for a while. 

Apparently Eliza Minnick had other plans, though, because she plopped herself down right next to Arizona. Arizona carefully arched an eyebrow. 

“Were you serious? About having a girlfriend. Because I think you weren’t. If you were, you would have told me who she was if she works in the hospital, and if she doesn’t work in the hospital you would have just said that. So I think you’re lying. And I think you should really just admit to yourself that –“

“Hey, baby,” Leah said loudly as she walked over, clearly having heard Eliza’s monologue. She wrapped one arm around Arizona and grabbed her by the jaw with the other, leaning in to kiss her. It was chaste, if a second too long, but it got the point across. She pulled back and smiled a dazzling smile. 

“Oh, I didn’t know you and Dr. Minnick were friends.” 

Minnick was shaken. Her mouth was open, her eyes were wide. 

“No, Dr. Minnick, I wasn’t lying to you.”

-

Two days later, Leah found herself in Dr. Bailey’s office. 

“Have I done something wrong?”

Dr. Bailey had her head in her hands. “I sincerely doubt that, Dr. Murphy, but protocol dictates that you and I have this meeting.” She looks up at her, dark brown eyes clearly annoyed. 

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure what this is about.”

“It would seem that Dr. Minnick is harboring some concern that Dr. Robbins may be . . . taking advantage of you.”

Leah’s mouth dropped open. “All due respect, Dr. Bailey, but that’s ridiculous.”

Bailey pursed her lips. “You think I don’t know that? I’ve known Arizona Robbins since I was still a resident. I know good and well she’d never take advantage of a student in any sense, let alone a romantic one.” 

“Then . . . why are we here?”

“By protocol, if an employee voices that kind of concern I am required to take it seriously.”

“Permission to speak plainly, Dr. Bailey?”

Bailey waved a hand in permission. 

“Dr. Robbins and I have been involved for about two years. If she were taking advantage of me, I don’t think she would care enough to keep it up this long. And besides that, I’m not even interested in pediatric surgery, I’m interested in cardio, so even if it were the other way around I wouldn’t be taking advantage of her.”

Bailey raised a hand, letting her know she could stop. “I know all of that, Murphy. And honestly I don’t care about any of your personal lives, but the hospital could get in trouble if we ignore claims like that.”

“I understand.” 

“You can go, Murphy.”

As soon as she got home that night, she told Arizona about what had happened. Arizona’s dark blue eyes widened. “She accused me of that?”

Leah’s lip dragged to the side. “Seems like it. I think she’s probably just jealous ‘cause you’re so pretty and she’s mad you’re already taken.”

Arizona smiled then. The attending rarely ever blushed, but she did now. “You’re such a sweet-talker,” she retorted as Leah came over and sat in her lap. 

“That’s because I’ve got someone sweet to talk to.”

Arizona rolled her eyes, but her smile gave her away. Leah laughed as she began kissing her neck. 

Leah, ever the joker, pulled away suddenly, resulting in a displeased noise from the other woman. “Unless you’d rather it was Dr. Minnick in this position?” 

Arizona threw her head back laughing then. “You think you’re so funny.”

“I mean, you’re still laughing.” 

“Well, for the record, I wouldn’t rather it was anybody in that position but you.

Still giggling, Leah continued her exploration down Arizona’s neck. Shifting to lay down, Arizona thought she could probably live like that forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even going to lie, a huge part of my inspiration to write this specific chapter was that I really don't like Minnick. I just don't like the way she came in like she owned the place and didn't care what anybody else thought, and the way Bailey let her seems somewhat out of character. That being said, I also didn't like the way the attendings responded to it (especially when they ostracized April over it) so I decided to change things a bit. It also feels a lot like she just got thrown in there to create tension/provide a new love interest for Arizona. Although, it also seems like something interesting could happen with a Leah/Arizona/Eliza triangle with Leah coming back this season.


	4. You Be Sweet and I'll Be Graceful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, fair warning, this chapter is fairly cheesy, but I thought it was cute so here you go.

It was roughly two years and six months into their relationship that Leah met Arizona’s parents for the first time. They had decided it had been far too long since they’d seen their daughter and their granddaughter, so they were planning to stay in the guest room for a week. 

Arizona was getting her things together to go pick her parents up from the airport. Leah was staying behind to get something ready for lunch and keep an eye on Sofia. 

Leah was also pacing holes in the floor. 

“What if they hate me? What if they think I’m some stupid young girl and I’m not good enough for you? What if they think I’m not as good as –“

“Let me stop you right there. I’ve told them enough about you to know they will love you. If they had doubts, they’d have said so by now, trust me. And don’t worry. They would never compare you to Callie. Even if they did, it doesn’t matter. Our marriage has been over for years and you are what’s best for me.” 

Leah nodded as Arizona slowly, with intention, took her face and kissed her. “I love you, and they will too.”

Leah nodded, amazed at how even after so long a kiss from Arizona could put her in a daze. She began pulling out ingredients for lunch as Arizona walked out the door. 

By the time they got back, everything was ready, and Sofia was waiting near the door, so overcome with excitement that she was nearly jumping up and down. It was adorable. When they walked in, they were immediately overcome by a seven-year-old ball of energy. 

“My grandbaby!” cooed Arizona’s mother as she swung her up into her arms. Her father laughed and ruffled Sofia’s hair. Arizona walked in right behind them. 

After they put Sofia down, eyes turned to Leah, who was waiting towards the back of the living room, uncertain. Arizona smiled bright. 

“Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend Leah.” 

Leah swore her heart might stop as Arizona’s mother examined her and her father stared with unreadable eyes. 

“Well, hello my dear, I’m Barbara, this is Daniel.” 

Leah smiled tightly. “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you.”

“You too, Leah,” responded her father, shaking Leah’s hand. 

During lunch, Leah fielded what seemed to Arizona like an endless barrage of questions about her surgical career, her childhood, and her plans for the future. Arizona decided to let her handle it, looking on with amusement as Leah handled her parents with far more grace than she’d been expecting.

A woman of many talents, it seemed. 

“And what do you think about getting married?”

Leah was caught off-guard by that one, however, and nearly choked on her drink. “Uh –I –uh –what?”

“It’s a reasonable question,” continued her mother.

Looking at her with wide blue eyes full of panic, Leah quickly kicked her under the table. 

Arizona cleared her throat. “Leah and I haven’t quite reached that step yet,” she said as she looked her mother very directly in the eye. 

Nodding her head, sipping her drink, her mother moved on to other topics of conversation as her father engaged Sofia in discussions of what she had been learning in school recently. 

Leah gripped Arizona’s wrist under the table, and didn’t release her for the rest of the meal. 

The rest of the week passed mostly uneventfully, until that Thursday when Barbara decided she and Leah were going shopping together.

As Arizona was getting ready for work, Leah was panicking as quietly as possible. 

“Arizona! I’m not a shopping girl. I’m not a gossipy girl. I don’t even know what we’re going to talk about. I love your mother, I really do, I think she’s delightful, but I can’t imagine what she wants to talk to me about. What if she asks me about marriage again, Arizona?” 

Arizona laughed. “Babydoll, my mother is nothing you can’t handle. She probably just wants to go get soft pretzels and look at shoes.”

Leah’s face came dangerously close to a pout. 

“Okay, okay, she might just want to be able to talk to you without me around. But that’s nothing you need to be worried about. And I know that because I know you, and I know her, and I know this is going to be fine. She likes you.”

Leah cracked. “Okay, alright. Your dad’s taking Sofia to school, right?”

Arizona nodded. “Mhm, and then later tonight when I get off work him and I are going to dinner so you and Mom are picking her up.”

-

The day wasn’t going bad, Leah decided. Barbara Robbins seemed determined to bury Leah in shoes and blouses. 

She had to hand it to her though, the woman had style. 

It was as they were sitting down to eat, though, that Barbara struck. 

“Now, Leah, my dear, you must tell me something. I understand you love Sofia very much?”

Leah nodded immediately. “I adore Sofia, as if she were my own.” 

Barbara nodded, smiling gently. “I don’t doubt that. But I was wondering if you had any wish to have a child of your own someday?”

That was it. This woman was trying to kill her. Leah was lucky she wasn’t drinking anything at the moment. 

“Um, well, I mean, I haven’t really thought about it yet,” she sputtered out. 

“Of course, of course, you’ll have to excuse me, I was only curious.”

Leah nodded, forcing a smile as she tried to convince her heart to calm down. 

Later, Leah found herself braiding Sofia’s hair before bed. It was nighttime ritual of theirs, because Arizona couldn’t French or Dutch braid to save her life, whereas Leah was fairly adept at it, and Sofia liked to sleep in braids. 

As Sofia told her all about her day with Grandpa, and how a nice girl at school had let her borrow her pink crayon when Sofia’s broke, Leah thought maybe another child wouldn’t be off the table. 

She’d have to talk to Arizona though. 

On the final night before Arizona’s parents left, they all went out to dinner, including Sofia. It was a nice place, and the mood was light, and happy. 

At some point throughout the meal, Arizona leaned in close to Leah’s ear. 

“Leah, do you love me?”

Leah’s brows furrowed. “Of course I do, more than anybody.”

Arizona shook her head slightly. “No, I mean like really love me. Like, moon and back, hell and back, put up with my parents for a week and longer than that, raise another woman’s child, love me?” 

“You know I do. Arizona, you’ve known that for just about forever now.” 

“I know. I just had to check.” 

“Arizona, what –“

“Don’t worry about it.” 

It was just as the meal was drawing to a close that Arizona revealed herself. And everything clicked into place in Leah’s head as Arizona cleared her throat and the conversation dulled down. 

She took Leah’s hand. 

“Arizona, what’s going –“

“Leah. I love you, like so much I can’t even see anybody else. I can’t even see my life without you in it. And I don’t want to go another day without you knowing that.” 

Leah’s mouth was hanging slightly open. Her eyes were watering and shining precious aquamarine. Barbara and Daniel were sharing knowing smiles and Sofia just looked a little bit confused. 

“Leah,” Arizona repeated as she slowly and carefully stood before dropping to one knee, “Will you marry me?” 

Leah was crying now. She couldn’t help it. Arizona was holding a ring, and smiling in the way that always took Leah’s breath away. 

And she was asking her to marry her. 

“Yes,” she gasped out. Arizona’s parents begin quietly clapping and Sofia did too as she started to comprehend what was going on. 

Well, they certainly had a lot of planning to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don't really remember much about Arizona's parents and their demeanors, so I tried not to focus too heavily on it. Arizona's mother was loosely referenced off Derek's mother, because I saw the episode with his mother more recently than I saw the episode with Arizona's. I know that's out of order, but it is what it is. If it seems OOC, I'm sorry. Let me know what you thought.  
> ALSO: I really don't agree with public marriage proposals on a general basis. If you feel the same and you were going to say something, you don't have to. I don't think they're fair to the person, but in this case it's been pretty evident from day 1, especially in canon that Leah is enraptured with Arizona, so I thought in this situation it was pretty safe.


End file.
